Leaked emails from Haringey Council’s parking department appear to reveal that wardens were given daily target for the number of tickets to issue – but the authority claims it is just a case of semantics.
The internal emails from 2008 and 2010, seen by the Broadway, were sent by council officers suggesting minimum numbers of parking tickets that each warden was expected to issue, even though target-setting was outlawed in 2008.
The first of the emails, sent by Paul Cox just 10 days after the government issued guidance on parking ticket quotas on March 31, 2008, refers to an “overall target” of 121,632 “on-street” tickets for the year. It further breaks it down to “individual performance” per warden of 14.48 tickets per day.
The email continues: “We must not take our eye off the ball, we can achieve the target if we all work together as a team.”
For CCTV and Smart Car tickets, the “target for the year” was 87,360 – or “260 PCNs per day”. Under “removals”, the email says: “We have no fixed targets for removals, however, we must be looking for at least 12/15 day.”
The second email, sent by Simon Heffer, parking deputy operations manager in the operations division, on May 7, 2010, goes out of its way to say it is not a “target”, but an “average expectation” for “‘on-street performance’”. He was also copied in to the email of 2008.
His email goes on to order the recipients to look at the last two months of weekly statistics “to establish who is underachieving, to the average beat figures”, adding: “We must be looking at a figure of at least 9-10 PCNs, for each tour of duty.”
He says wardens issuing tickets “below the expectation levels” should be offered training or guidance, adding: “If there is no improvement, then discuss this with me, so we can set up a further Development Meeting and Plan.”
Haringey Council claims the emails are nothing more than a word being used out of context. A spokesman said: “Haringey Council does not set targets for parking penalties, and it is inaccurate to claim that we do.
“In fact, the email from 2010 clearly states that there is not a target for PCNs. The email from 2008 is now five years old. We did not set targets for PCNs after legislation was changed in 2008. In the case of this email, which was sent just days after legislation was changed, the officer incorrectly used the term ‘targets’ to refer to forecasts for the anticipated number of PCNs for the following year.
“These forecasts are common practice, and are designed to give an overview of workload for the coming year, rather than as any measure of staff performance.”
But Cllr Richard Wilson, Liberal Democrat opposition leader, said it was “disgraceful” traffic wardens were expected to meet targets.
“It is bound to lead to some traffic wardens issuing tickets that are not justified and I’m sure that is one of the reasons why the number of successful appeals against parking tickets is so high in Haringey.”
Neither of the officers who sent the emails still work for the council
Tottenham Journal